Name: Passarella Death
Members: Danny Broddle, Emilie Albisser
Interviewee: Danny Broddle
Occupation: Producers, fashion designers
Nationality: British
Current release: Passarella Death Squad's What We Are, You Shall Be is out via their own Passarella Records.
Fashion Recommendations: I’m going to go with the Vivienne Westwood outfits worn in the Malcolm McLaren Buffalo Girls promo video, released in 1982. The outfits taken from Westwood’s Nostalgia of Mud collection alongside the make up across the girls eyes, I just thought the models looked incredible. It’s hard to explain just how much of an impact that video had on the people when they first saw it, it introduced so many people to a whole of music, art, movement and clothing.

My second suggestion is the Katharine Hamnett ‘Choose life’ t-shirts. The t-shirt becomes the protest placard, my first memories are of watching Wham! wearing these on Top Of The Pops. Katharine Hamnett famously wore another statement driven T-shirt of hers - ‘58% Don’t Want Pershing’ - when meeting Margaret Thatcher. A really simple way of making a powerful statement.

If you enjoyed this interview with Passarella Death Squad and would like to know more about the duo, visit their official website. They are also on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.



Fashion and music are often closely related to one's identity. Can you please tell us a bit about your own sense of identity – and how it motivated you to take an artistic path?

In terms of my sense of identity, at the very beginning, around the age of 12, I was involved with breakdancing. So that introduced me to the whole street style sense of identity. It has pretty much followed me throughout my life as whatever the genre of I’ve been following; rap, house, rave etc it’s not been that far removed in terms of a general look and association with brands who created the clothing.

And I think the same can be said about the general artistic path and wanting to create my own music, art and clothing. It wasn’t so much about the idea of being a business idea, more just about the enjoyment of the process and the representation of the scene.

In which way do you feel your identity concretely influences your creativity?

I believe my identity reflects how I see the world, what I’m influenced by, my personal and political beliefs, who and what I surround myself with. So my general creative output will reflect that.

Describe your personal style, please, and how your choice of fashion allows you to express it. Which fashion brands or style icons do you personally find inspiring - and why?

I guess my style is casual, streetwear, urban maybe and a little bit more formal as I’ve grown older.

In terms of who I find inspiring, I think the one who stands out the most is the work created by Vivenne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren maybe not so much in that I wear any of the clothing but just in terms of how important they have been. They really represented something and introduced important styles and musical genre’s to so many people.

European designs like Raf Simons or Dries van Noten I also find very exciting and a seemingly endless source of strong creative output. As a design approach I’m very inspired by the general Japanese creative aesthetic. It’s the whole package, not just the clothing but the lifestyle that comes with it and the general execution of the work.

Fashion can embody ideals that extend far beyond aesthetics, reaching into ecology, politics and social issues. Does this apply to you as well, and if so, in which way?  

Via Passarella I’ve started a not for profit publication called RA!SE, the idea being to help raise awareness on various human rights issues from around the world. 100% of all profits from sales are donated to a charity supporting the cause detailed in the publication.

It’s currently on issue 4 and available in various retailers throughout the United Kingdom.

What was the relationship between music and fashion for you like personally? When was the first time that you became aware of the connection between fashion and music?

The 1st time was around 12 years old and I started breakdancing, I bought into everything.

After the club we attended on a Saturday daytime had closed we would visit the sport shop’s selling the tracksuits to look at, not to buy, just to look, as they were too expensive. We would also visit the record shops that sold the imported vinyl records.

So from that early age I’m surrounded by visuals and uniforms that form the connection between fashion and music.

What do fashion and design add to your perception of music?

They add everything, the two are totally connected. Perhaps in the modern day where people find new music via digital releases rather than physical releases which in turn means the visual aspect can be less impactful.

But the general creative package is still very much part of why you were drawn towards the music in the first place.

Fashion can project an image, just like music can. As such, it is part of the storytelling process. What kinds of stories are being told, would you say?

Music and fashion go hand in hand with each other so whatever stories are being told by the music are being reflected by the clothing worn, this has been the case throughout history.

Look at the punk movement or hip hop and the cultural stories that are being told. People standing up and saying Fuck You! Pay attention to me! Pay attention to this!

Each generation has it’s own story to tell and it’s own visual identity.

What can fashion express what music can not?

Fashion expresses from a visual point of view, in terms of you don’t need to press play on somebody in order to understand what kind of person they are and what they might believe in.

But if you think of fashion in terms of a uniform you can understand just how powerful it can be.

It seems obvious that fashion and music are closely linked, but just how that influence works hasn't always been clear. Would you say that music leads fashion? Is it the other way round? Or are they inseparable in some ways?  

They are inseparable, the musician will have an identity simply in how they look, and as human nature dictates, this draws us towards what we find visually appealing.

There has been several examples of where the music will lead the fashion, think of Kurt Cobain for example, the whole ‘grunge’ look becomes a thing, where the musician wishes to be deemed as anti-style, anti-fashion, that in itself becomes style.

But in general for me they are very much together.

Fashion and music can be expressions or celebration of identity, but they can also be an effort to establish new ones or break free from them. How would you describe your own approach in this regard?

In terms of my own personal identity via clothing I will try and stand out a bit from the norm not massively but enough to be say I want to be perceived as being different from what's around me.

In terms of a creative approach, I believe it’s important to have your space in which you only exist, for richer or poorer, but that is your space and your creative output stems from there.

In other words, if what you’re making isn’t popular just stick with it. It’s a reflection of what you are and what you believe in, regardless of how your bank account might be looking.

Does what you wear change your personality – and thus the music you create or the way you perform?

It can do, yes, in terms of a mind frame. But in terms of wanting to create something that’s perhaps different from your usual thing just changing what you wear probably won’t help much.

I believe that comes more from within, the clothing you wear then follows.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though designing a fashion item or even putting together a great outfit for yourself is inherently different from something like composing a piece of music?

I think they have similarities in respect of how you approach the work at the very beginning. They’re both considered before actually committing the work, of course whilst one might be drawn whilst the other is programmed, but in that respect the creative process at the start in itself is similar.

Are you currently active in the fashion industry? If so, tell me about your experiences, please.

I am still active in the fashion industry, not as much as I was 10 years ago but I’m still around it.

Overall it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience Both from a prospective of the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet but also the places I’ve been, especially considering my poor education and what was expected of me from it.

The interesting thing with fashion is, you can create your own world totally off your own back, whereas music and art perhaps rely more on systems of support, venues, promotors, agents etc. In fashion you can really create it all for yourself.

Fashion extends to the artwork of releases and promotional photography as well. Could you talk about your approach in this regard and what some considerations were for some of your most recent cover designs and images?

A lot of artwork that I've created over the years has also been featured on the record sleeves as well as the clothing. But it kind of happens organically, it's not really considered too much it just happens to be that maybe a T-shirt design might work well as a record sleeve or maybe an artwork might look cool on the back of a jacket and so on.

But in general, fashion definitely acts as an excellent communicator when featured on a record sleeve or in promotional material.

There is a fine line between cultural exchange and appropriation. This true both for music and fashion. What are your thoughts on the limits of copying, using cultural signs and symbols and the cultural/social/gender specificity of art?

Cultural appropriation awareness is something that is very prominent within the modern day market place.

Sadly it's more from a sales prospective rather than one that was for the general greater good of progressing as a society.